Listening to Jazz Music

[cisco kid]

Hi,
I heard younger rock players listen to the newer guys of today guitarists...metal...shred..whatever. But some of the younger players I don't know if they heard of the 50s and 60s rock/blues guitar trendsetters. Plus those guitar players listened to the blues guitar players and what did the those blues guitar players listen to ... it goes way back.
What about todays up coming/learning young jazz guitar players what do they listen to? You can go way back to the 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s (Bebop), 60s guitar players and see where it evolved from not to mention hearing it live.
I think unfortunately the earlier jazz music live has kinda dried up they used to be all over the place - rock took over awhile back.
You have to hear the groove to get into it first I understand. Thank God for the recordings that are still around and the videos.
But like the blues (they use to be all over the place) where is it going these days ... B.B. King, Buddy Guy and I think Hubert Sumlin and Otis Rush are still around. Herb Ellis just died.
Just some feedback.
JamesBDean55

[derek]

I teach both guitar and bass part time. About half of my students are kids wanting on, or have made their middle and high school jazz ensembles. The rest of my students are a mix of old guys and young guys/girls. They all pretty much want to play the stuff we grew up with. The young kids get exposed to it from the Guitar Hero video game.

Either way, after the basics of fretboard, open chords, etc., the blues come first, whether jazz, rock or whatever style. This is true of most of the teaching material I use and see being sold. Since both styles are spin offs of the blues, it only makes sense imo.

I much more prefer a jazzer who clearly has spent time in the blues than one who did not. The phrasing and relaying of emotion is very different to my ears.

[Reg]

All your comments are too real... I grew up going to see live music two or three times a week, played in bands etc... The first time I saw Cannonball was at the Filmore at a rock concert. I think young people have to many things taking up their time and become very momentary... Obviously not all and I guess it's not just young people... anyway a good thing about the net is the access to jazz performances, new and old. I tend to go along with Derek about Jazz players who have played the blues, R&B or something that grooves... there usually much better jazz players, for that matter, better musicians. Best Reg

[jeffstritt]

I'm a young guy, but I got into jazz through blues. I started off listening to guys like SRV and Albert King, that kind of got me into guys like Robben Ford and Larry Carlton, that got me into Kenny Burrell and Wes Montgomery, and that is how I got into jazz.

In the end, it is all music. I think that we get bogged down by genres and such. If a guy can play he can play, why bother with labels?

[cisco kid]

Well, there's different levels of playing -- I mean different expertise -- you know -- there's always somebody better, but so what.
But not all rock/blues players handle jazz guitar playing very well and some don't care. I have friend who thinks jazz is nothing more than the chromatic scale gone nuts. Well to each its own.
But not everybody can play every style well. I can't ... but that's me... I truck along..it's a hobby I take it serious.
The jazz players of the 50s and 60s were the studio musicians in the recording studios playing a lot of rock, surf, rockabilly, pop, r&b, Motown etc. music because they knew their instruments and read well. The rock bands weren't that good to record their stuff let alone play along with the studio guitarists at that time. Time means money in the studio.
The studio guitarist resented the rock bands because they were making the big bucks for awhile and that music the studio musicians were playing...well, let say it was bland to them.
But there has alway been behind the music scenes bias toward rock playing less with the blues guitar playing and other blues musicians.
As Howard Roberts said in the 50s we were doing great until those war babies appeared in the music business and we took a step backwards in the studio and live clubs started to fade out to the rockers.
But the bottom line is what you want to play, and who cares what anybody says.